[time-nuts] ad-hoc I/O
Hi Dave, Likewise, there are also versions of MCU's with TCP stacks available too, as well as things like this... http://www.lantronix.com/device-networking/embedded-device-servers/xport.html ... Basically, an embedded TCP/IPSerial adapter, with bells on! So you can use existing device designs that would use a serial link to the host, and add network connectivity for that need, with no (well, little) design overhead. When I was looking for something simmilar, a relative recommended http://www.ak-nord.de/ak/product_info.php?products_id=33 which he uses at work to access interfaces internal to their product during testing. It should be what the xport is, but adding i2c and spi ports. Unfortunately, I didn't find time to procure one, or even test it. Chris ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] ad-hoc I/O
The XT-Nano-XXL looks very interesting, and the price is good. With these kinds of hardware devices, the question always arises as to what to use on the other end to talk to the device. I see that ak-nord has a virtual com port driver, which many vendors have. It would also be interesting to see if two of the XT-Nano-XXL devices could talk directly to each other without any computers being involved. The manual talks about a tunnel mode, but shows the Nano connected to the box with 2 serial ports. The other problem I have with these kinds of devices is what to do about software to talk to them. Some devices come with free software that has basic functionality to debug the hardware. What I would really like to do is to get an API and build a simple interface program with radio buttons, etc that control relays etc. The problem is that I am not a programmer. I keep looking for a tutorial that explains how to do simple Visual Basic or something, but I consistently run into two showstoppers. 1. The tutorials cover only the VB or C++ language, and not the mechanics of compiling, linking, libraries, and .dll files. 2. The tutorials assume the program talks only to the console (keyboard mouse and monitor). No discussion of connecting to the LAN and interfacing with the hardware. What I have seen written about these topics is incomprehensible to me as an analog engineer. Rick Karlquist, N6RK Christian Vogel wrote: Hi Dave, Likewise, there are also versions of MCU's with TCP stacks available too, as well as things like this... http://www.lantronix.com/device-networking/embedded-device-servers/xport.html ... Basically, an embedded TCP/IPSerial adapter, with bells on! So you can use existing device designs that would use a serial link to the host, and add network connectivity for that need, with no (well, little) design overhead. When I was looking for something simmilar, a relative recommended http://www.ak-nord.de/ak/product_info.php?products_id=33 which he uses at work to access interfaces internal to their product during testing. It should be what the xport is, but adding i2c and spi ports. Unfortunately, I didn't find time to procure one, or even test it. Chris ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] ad-hoc I/O
On 8/28/09 7:43 AM, Richard (Rick) Karlquist rich...@karlquist.com wrote: The XT-Nano-XXL looks very interesting, and the price is good. With these kinds of hardware devices, the question always arises as to what to use on the other end to talk to the device. I see that ak-nord has a virtual com port driver, which many vendors have. It would also be interesting to see if two of the XT-Nano-XXL devices could talk directly to each other without any computers being involved. The manual talks about a tunnel mode, but shows the Nano connected to the box with 2 serial ports. The other problem I have with these kinds of devices is what to do about software to talk to them. Some devices come with free software that has basic functionality to debug the hardware. What I would really like to do is to get an API and build a simple interface program with radio buttons, etc that control relays etc. The problem is that I am not a programmer. I keep looking for a tutorial that explains how to do simple Visual Basic or something, but I consistently run into two showstoppers. 1. The tutorials cover only the VB or C++ language, and not the mechanics of compiling, linking, libraries, and .dll files. 2. The tutorials assume the program talks only to the console (keyboard mouse and monitor). No discussion of connecting to the LAN and interfacing with the hardware. What I have seen written about these topics is incomprehensible to me as an analog engineer. We share and feel your pain.. OK.. Strategies for programming.. One is to make the remote device understand string input and produce string output. Most any language has some way to shoot strings to a serial port or a file or a pipe or something. Either you open a file (COM1:) or use some serial port method (SerialPort.Open = True) or similar. I usually look for an example of a terminal emulator program.. Another is to talk to the device in some form of messages/packets. At a low level, I like the socket interface. Open a socket at an IP address and do send() and recv() from the socket. One of the best explanations at a simple level is in the book how to build a Beowulf by Sterling, et al, where they give an example of communicating between computers using Berkeley sockets and explain the 4 or 5 API calls you need. (a pox on those who tell you, just look at the man pages..). At a higher level, using http: as a transport is fairly straightforward. Yes, usually you use a web browser, but nothing says that has to be the case. Http provides a very simple put, get type interface to a remote device (strings again). The program cURL makes shooting out the strings easy. But, say you want to build an interface that has some radio buttons and when you click on the button, it shoots the string to the device doing something.. Easy in languages like VB.NET. But you want to start with something like a terminal emulator, which will have all the gory details of opening and configuring the com port already done. You just replace the part where it sends/receives characters with your new interface. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] ad-hoc I/O
Rick, and other interested time-nuts: I think the thing to use is Robot Basic: http://www.robotbasic.org/ It's simple, has useful simple graphics, runs on its own (no Windoze .net stuff) and best of all is free. There are examples to learn from etc. and a couple of inexpensive books for the novice. It's not as sophisticated as say Visual Basic 6, but neat. A debugged satisfactory program can be .exe'd so the Basic program need not be running to use the application. Also has hooks to a USB interface and net stuff if you need it, and of course serial interface. Highly recommended!!! Look it over. Don Latham Richard (Rick) Karlquist The XT-Nano-XXL looks very interesting, and the price is good. With these kinds of hardware devices, the question always arises as to what to use on the other end to talk to the device. I see that ak-nord has a virtual com port driver, which many vendors have. It would also be interesting to see if two of the XT-Nano-XXL devices could talk directly to each other without any computers being involved. The manual talks about a tunnel mode, but shows the Nano connected to the box with 2 serial ports. The other problem I have with these kinds of devices is what to do about software to talk to them. Some devices come with free software that has basic functionality to debug the hardware. What I would really like to do is to get an API and build a simple interface program with radio buttons, etc that control relays etc. The problem is that I am not a programmer. I keep looking for a tutorial that explains how to do simple Visual Basic or something, but I consistently run into two showstoppers. 1. The tutorials cover only the VB or C++ language, and not the mechanics of compiling, linking, libraries, and .dll files. 2. The tutorials assume the program talks only to the console (keyboard mouse and monitor). No discussion of connecting to the LAN and interfacing with the hardware. What I have seen written about these topics is incomprehensible to me as an analog engineer. Rick Karlquist, N6RK Christian Vogel wrote: Hi Dave, Likewise, there are also versions of MCU's with TCP stacks available too, as well as things like this... http://www.lantronix.com/device-networking/embedded-device-servers/xport.html ... Basically, an embedded TCP/IPSerial adapter, with bells on! So you can use existing device designs that would use a serial link to the host, and add network connectivity for that need, with no (well, little) design overhead. When I was looking for something simmilar, a relative recommended http://www.ak-nord.de/ak/product_info.php?products_id=33 which he uses at work to access interfaces internal to their product during testing. It should be what the xport is, but adding i2c and spi ports. Unfortunately, I didn't find time to procure one, or even test it. Chris ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. -- Dr. Don Latham AJ7LL Six Mile Systems LLP 17850 Six Mile Road POB 134 Huson, MT, 59846 VOX 406-626-4304 www.lightningforensics.com www.sixmilesystems.com ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] ad-hoc I/O
On 8/28/09 10:25 AM, Don Latham d...@montana.com wrote: Rick, and other interested time-nuts: I think the thing to use is Robot Basic: http://www.robotbasic.org/ It's simple, has useful simple graphics, runs on its own (no Windoze .net stuff) and best of all is free. Does it run under Vista? (it wasn't apparent from the website.. If they're doing device i/o that's where the hiccups occur) ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] ad-hoc I/O
AFIK, Jim. The website will have some mire info Freudian slip?). I've stopped at XP and have a W2k that I load on to unsuspecting bare machines... Don Lux, Jim (337C) On 8/28/09 10:25 AM, Don Latham d...@montana.com wrote: Rick, and other interested time-nuts: I think the thing to use is Robot Basic: http://www.robotbasic.org/ It's simple, has useful simple graphics, runs on its own (no Windoze .net stuff) and best of all is free. Does it run under Vista? (it wasn't apparent from the website.. If they're doing device i/o that's where the hiccups occur) ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. -- Dr. Don Latham AJ7LL Six Mile Systems LLP 17850 Six Mile Road POB 134 Huson, MT, 59846 VOX 406-626-4304 www.lightningforensics.com www.sixmilesystems.com ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] ad-hoc I/O
Hi Rick, The other problem I have with these kinds of devices is what to do about software to talk to them. ... The tutorials assume the program talks only to the console (keyboard mouse and monitor). No discussion of connecting to the LAN and interfacing with the hardware. What I have seen written about these topics is incomprehensible to me as an analog engineer. what I say now might make me sound like a pleistocene fossil, but you might want to have a look at TCL/TK (http://tcl.tk/). I used it in the past to talk to network servers mostly, but also have used it to talk to serial peripherals. There are extensions (BLT) to draw graphs built in. Hello World (Button that says Hello World and closes the application): : http://wiki.tcl.tk/488 Serial Port Logic Analyzer Screen Capture (first hit in the Wiki for serial port...) : http://wiki.tcl.tk/13583 (note that the last example could be adapted to a network-coupled serial port by changing the open to a socket-call) There's plenty more, tcl/tk is a real unix dinosaur (not something for the hip Ruby-on-Rails folks...) Chris ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] ad-hoc I/O
Don Latham wrote: AFIK, Jim. The website will have some mire info Freudian slip?). Too cryptic for me. I have no clue what you might mean. I've stopped at XP and have a W2k that I load on to unsuspecting bare machines... Don I agree that W2k is great to have around. It runs all but he most recent bloatware and doesn't need to contact the mothership to come to life. Most of my real-world machines are running XP, but for engineering set-ups 2K is my fav. I have a few drives set up with w2k that I swap into a notebook for clean, simple engineering environments. One of them runs some softwware I obtained that had a time limit, so when I put that drive in, I need to remember to set the clock back to year 2000 so I can run the tools. See, a time reference in this post. -Rex Lux, Jim (337C) On 8/28/09 10:25 AM, Don Latham d...@montana.com wrote: Rick, and other interested time-nuts: I think the thing to use is Robot Basic: http://www.robotbasic.org/ It's simple, has useful simple graphics, runs on its own (no Windoze .net stuff) and best of all is free. Does it run under Vista? (it wasn't apparent from the website.. If they're doing device i/o that's where the hiccups occur) ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] ad-hoc I/O
Hi Rick, Another program you might like to consider is BBC BASIC for Windows. Richard Russell, an ex engineer at the British Broadcasting Corporation's Research Department, has ported the original 6502 BASIC from the 1980's era BBC Micro. All versions of Windows (including Vista) are supported. He actively supports it via a Yahoo group, there is a comprehensive online manual, and yes, programs can be compiled into executables to run without the interpreter. There is access to any of the Windows APIs. There is a free (memory limited) trial version, or the full version costs $50. See: http://www.cix.co.uk/~rrussell/bbcwin/bbcwin.html Online reference: http://bb4w.wikispaces.com/ Yahoo group: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bb4w/ In the spirit of full disclosure I should perhaps mention that I also worked for the BBC, and collaborated with Richard Russell on another project. Regards, Peter Vince (G8ZZR, London, England) On Fri Aug 28 7:43 , 'Richard (Rick) Karlquist' rich...@karlquist.com sent: ... The other problem I have with these kinds of devices is what to do about software to talk to them. Some devices come with free software that has basic functionality to debug the hardware. What I would really like to do is to get an API and build a simple interface program with radio buttons, etc that control relays etc. The problem is that I am not a programmer. I keep looking for a tutorial that explains how to do simple Visual Basic or something, but I consistently run into two showstoppers. 1. The tutorials cover only the VB or C++ language, and not the mechanics of compiling, linking, libraries, and .dll files. 2. The tutorials assume the program talks only to the console (keyboard mouse and monitor). No discussion of connecting to the LAN and interfacing with the hardware. What I have seen written about these topics is incomprehensible to me as an analog engineer. Rick Karlquist, N6RK ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
